Warbird Rant & Rave

[Chris]

Hey Mike, I took a different road than you. I started out wiping oil off planes then graduated to cleaning off cowling during annuals to helping out with maintenance. After years of this, I gained enough knowledge and experience to get my A&P which now allows me to make some extra cash on the side. I started out with all this fifteen years ago and while there have been many times that I have not gotten rides in aircraft that I have worked on, it has still afforded me many opportunities that I otherwise would never have experienced. Also, the very fact that someone is willing to trust me to work on their T-6 or other warbird is rewarding in itself. It tells me that they have confidence in my abilities and respect the quality of my work. Remember, if you work on someones plane, they put their life in your hands the same way you put your life in their hands when you fly with them. There are some pilots that I refuse to fly with because of that fact. Other pilots like to take me up with them on both pre and post maintenance flights so they can better describe possible problems and later to see if they have been corrected to their satisfaction. I know that there has always been a rift between maintenance personnell and pilots but remember, neither one has a job without the other. My greatest satisfaction comes when something I've worked on works exactly as it was supposed to.

[wendovertom]

Wow Stoney - our airshow always offers at LEAST a tankful and a room for warbirds coming to the Wendover show -

Tom P.

[HELLDIVERS]

FIND A NICE BT PROJECT THERE ALL METAL AND PRETTY RARE.NO COMPLICATED SYSTEMS AND LOOK LIKE A WARBIRD. THERE ARE SEVERAL PROJECTS OUT THERE FOR SALE.THEN YOU CAN BE THE GUY THAT BRINGS UP THE NEXT GENERATION OF AIRPLANE NUTZ THAT LIKE TO WORK FOR FREE THANKS MIKE

[JohnH]

Several years ago, I was at the Hamilton AFB airshow in No. Cal.. I had some friends there who had flown in and was standing on the flight line side of the orange cones and barriers when a T-28B taxied up. The pilot jumps out on to the wing (just like John Wayne) pulls out his cell phone, starts talking to someone Regards,
Mike

Hmm.....can someone fill me in.....I don't remember cell phones being around during the 1987-1990 era when that show ran. I know car phones existed but I don't even remember millionaires running around with cell phones. I know the last show was in 1990 because in 91 when Tallichet first tried to fly his Marauder I ran into Ben, who put the show on and he told me they couldn't get the field anymore because of Barbara Boxer. Maybe you're thinking of another Bay Area airshow?

John

[Warbird Pilot]

Several years ago, I was at the Hamilton AFB airshow in No. Cal.. I had some friends there who had flown in and was standing on the flight line side of the orange cones and barriers when a T-28B taxied up. The pilot jumps out on to the wing (just like John Wayne) pulls out his cell phone, starts talking to someone Regards,
Mike

Hmm.....can someone fill me in.....I don't remember cell phones being around during the 1987-1990 era when that show ran. I know car phones existed but I don't even remember millionaires running around with cell phones. I know the last show was in 1990 because in 91 when Tallichet first tried to fly his Marauder I ran into Ben, who put the show on and he told me they couldn't get the field anymore because of Barbara Boxer. Maybe you're thinking of another Bay Area airshow?

John

A quick Gooogle shows that by 1987 over one million cellular phones were in use....

[JohnH]

Ok thanks......I'm definitely wrong. I just woke up and my brain isn't working well. I knew I should have googled it.

John